


Another Time, Another Place

by Smittysgirl (Estirose)



Category: Power Rangers Dino Thunder
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-24
Updated: 2014-03-26
Packaged: 2018-01-16 19:38:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 17,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1359388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Estirose/pseuds/Smittysgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In another world, the Rangers fight. (PRDT, AU)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> All Smittysgirl fics were cowritten with Chris Funaro. This is an AU where everything goes bad and Terrence Smith is the Rangers' mentor.
> 
> Also, this is a fairly serious (if slightly cracky) fic but there's an element of badfic in here - we deliberately left some typos uncorrected. Some in chapters 5 and after were corrected (thank you, Nalanzu, for being our beta), but some slipped through despite our beta's best efforts. Sometimes you really have to know a language in order to make subtle typos in it.

"Dr. Smitty! Dr. Smitty!"

The yell rang through Dino Ops. Terrance Smith spun in his chair, already steeled for some horrifying new creation of Mesogog's - or possibly an unfair grade inflicted on one of his charges by the same.

"Kira. Ethan? What's wrong?" he asked, reaching for the kleenex as the two rattled down the stairs. "Monster or what did Anton do this time?"

"It's worse," the Blue Ranger huffed.

"It's Conner," the Yellow Ranger supplied. "We found out he's gone off his meds."

"He started tearing up the cybercafe," Ethan continued. "Hayley knocked him out before he could morph or anything, but it's bad."

Terrance nodded, handing each of the beleaguered teens a tissue.

Kira settled down. "Dr. T, isn't there any way we can free the Dinogem from him?"

Terrance shook his head. "I wish that was the case. The only way to release the Dinogem from Conner is for him to die. I suppose clinical death would suffice, but it's not something I'd care to dabble in unless absolutely necessary."

A rustling came from the house above. "I assume that's Hayley?"

"I hope so," Terrence said grimly. "You stay here, kids. I'll be right back down."

Both Ethan and Kira got up. "We're not leaving you alone, Dr. T."

He shook his head, motioning for both to sit down. "I can handle Conner. The both of you need time to relax." He motioned to the rudimentary sensor equipment dotting the wall. "Call me if there's any developments?"

"Right, Dr. T," Ethan said, getting up and moving to the equipment. "Be careful, in case that's not Hayley."

Terrance nodded, bounding up the stairs and prepared for anything.

Anything except a bloodied White Ranger trying not to drip all over the carpet.

"Trent!" Terrance exclaimed. He frowned. "Let's get you downstairs and look at you. What happened?"

"Conner's what happened," the teen wheezed. He waved the older man away. "I know Kira's here, I saw Ethan's car outside. I'd just as soon not go downstairs."

"Still," Terrence persisted, "You're injured, and you need help."

Trent sighed. "I'll go into the kitchen. You bring up the medical kit from downstairs."

Terrance shook his head in exasperation. "When I gave you that key, I meant for you to use it."

"I am using it," Trent shot back.

"You never come downstairs," Terrance pointed out.

"With the others there? No way! Especially not Kira."

He let out a long suffering sigh. "Alright. Play your games. I'll be back in a moment."

"It's not a game, Dr. T!" Trent exclaimed, but he shuffled into the kitchen. Terrence had to shake his head as he headed back down.

"Who was it?" Ethan asked, clearly having not paid attention to the sensor grid. Kira crossed her arms, just as clearly with an inkling of who their visitor was.

Terrance said nothing, removing a med kit and modified fossilfinder from the wall. "You're not in any danger. I'll be back in a little while."

"Be careful," Kira said simply.

"I will," Terrance promised, heading back upstairs.

"You know," Terrance offered as his patient flinched at another stitch, "this would be much less awkward if you'd just talk to them. Maybe you can avoid them at school, but you can't avoid your father. At least they provide you some protection."

"By wearing a target on their backs? No thank you."

"Trent, they're your teammates," Terrance said simply. "You've got to trust them. They can take care of themselves."

"Like they take care of themselves against Conner?" Trent asked. "Why did you let that dangerous maniac near a Dinogem. And, by the way, they're not my teammates."

"Conner is a perfectly nice model soccer player when he's taken his medication. It's not his fault that he has a psychological disorder. Besides, Kira and Ethan and I are your teammates. You have to believe that, Trent."

Trent winced at the next suture being sealed. "You'll forgive me if having special circumstances for my membership is offensive to me. I'm sorry for what I did to you, Dr. Smitty. You have to believe that. But at least I was under the gem's control. Keeping me at arm's length while Conner's nestled up in everybody's bosom? I won't play that game."

"I admit, I had a hard time dealing with your redemption," Terrence admitted. "You did do a lot of damage, and we're finding it all a little hard to forgive. But I mean what I said. You are a member of this team, Trent Jacob Hernandez-Mercer."

Trent looked away. Terrance recognized the face of a man too strong to cry in front of another, and similarly averted his gaze. "And Conner... Conner needs our love. Without it he could be a danger to himself and others."

"Danger to everybody is right," Trent muttered. "He should be locked up and have his morpher taken away."

Terrance looked back up at the boy. "I don't want to hear that. You can't imagine what Conner underwent at Mesogog's hand."

Trent glared at him.

"Well, I suppose you WOULD know," he allowed. "But you didn't endure a near transformation into an anthropomorphic dinosaur."

"And now he's crazed. Dr. Smitty, he's one of the reasons I don't feel at home here. I just don't belong. And he and the others have made that very clear to me."

"Ethan likes you," Terrance insisted. "You know for a fact Hayley and I do. Why else do you think I asked you to come live with us?"

"You're safer if I don't," Trent muttered. "Besides, I'm careful. My Dad doesn't know where he is half the time, much less where I am."

Terrance laughed, wiping away the excess iodine and inspecting his handiwork. "Trent, I haven't been safe for a single day in the last five years. I think I know what I'm getting into. Hayley does too."

"Look, I've been hurt enough," Trent said. "The only reason I'm still here is to save my Dad. Or destroy him. Nothing's ever going to be any different."

"Things change, Trent," Terrance said quietly. "I nearly never worked with Anton - a guy named Tommy Oliver was supposed to be working with him, but he had to drop out after a major illness. So I ended up with Anton, and through him, I met Hayley. Neither of which would have happened had the now-Dr. Oliver ended up as your father's assistant."

Trent looked at him askance. "And this pertains to me - how?"

"I'm just saying, your life is in a constant state of freefall. You never know what's going to happen to change things until you open your eyes to the possibilities. Possibilities like living with Hayley and I. Like accepting your place on this team, and what that entails with Conner."

"Conner almost killed me." Trent's voice was flat. "Kira hates me. And I'm convinced that Hayley only keeps me as a busboy because I'm a Ranger."

"No, she keeps you because she's understaffed," Terrance said. "And because you're a damn fine employee."

"Anybody can bus tables if they gave it half an effort," Trent answered. "I quit on her."

"You had your reasons. We all have our reasons. That's what this is about, Trent. That's why we need -"

The thunderclap of Ethan and Kira emerging from the steps drew their attention.

"It's Conner!" Ethan called. "We have to get downtown now!"

Terrance swore. "Trent, will you come with us?"

"Are you kidding me?" Trent asked, getting up and calling his morpher into existance. "He owes me!"

"Trent, this is not about revenge," Terrance snapped. "Ready, everybody?"

The four morphed in an explosion of light and quickly set off for downtown.

Trent took in the thrashing red form and immediately drew his weapon. "You're in for it this time," he said quietly, not wanting a verbal lashing from Dr. Smitty or the others. He quickly drew his arrows and sent them in Conner's direction.

The Red Ranger growled savagely, ricocheting the weapons into the scattered populace with his Thundermax. Trent flinched.

"Kira, Ethan, evacuate the civilians!" the Black Ranger called over the din. From out of the smoke emerged two figures, male and female.

"Except them!" he amended.

"Um, Dr. T, you sure it's safe for Cass..." Ethan interrupted.

"I can take care of myself," the young woman called from behind Devin's red-clad form. "Besides, who else is going to film this battle for the evening news?"

"If you're sure, Cass," Ethan said, heading to clear out some civilians.

"She's fine," Devin replied, calling the Shield of Triumph out of its extradimensional space. "'Sides, do you want her angry with you, 'cause I sure don't..."

Ethan didn't answer, too busy was he at redirecting pedestrian traffic into an alleyway. Kira cut into a fire hydrant, using the spray of water to extinguish several small fires the ricocheted electrical arrows had caused.

Devin moved beside the Black Ranger, keeping the Shield between him and the whirling figure of the Red Ranger at all times. "Dr. Smitty, I know I'm still new to this whole Ranger thing and all, but how am I supposed to morph when I can't depower Kira and Ethan?"

"Hayley's been working on some modifications," Terrence said kindly. "Trust in your teammates, Devin."

"Yes, Sir Yoda... I mean, Dr. Smitty."

"Dr. T is fine, Devin."

The Red Ranger lunged at the two, and Devin responded in kind with an inarticulate cry. The Shield of Triumph slammed against the Red Ranger's chest, sending him reeling and briefly flashing with residual energy.

"Um... try now Dr. S - er, T?"

"Try it now," Terrance said, inwardly rolling his eyes.

"Triassic Thunder, Power Up!"

Devin's Ranger armor momentarily expanded from the Shield of Triumph, suddenly dissolving with an extended sour note.

"Um, Doctor um..."

"I see Hayley needs to do some tinkering. Why don't you and Cass keep the civilians out of the way and we'll knock Conner out."

"No problem, Dr. T." Devin returned the Shield to its pocket and headed off doggedly. "C'mon, Cass."

Terrance shook his head as he headed off to tackle Conner.


	2. Chapter 2

The scene unfolding on the laboratory's main viewer brought something like glee to the cold reptilian heart of Mesogog. The Red Dino Ranger tore a swath through his teammates, all reluctant to inflict injury on the youth. A reluctance which he did not share in kind.

"Yessss." He hissed contently.

"So, should I send down some... assistance for the Red Ranger?" Elsa asked idly.

Mesogog shook his head. "I would prefer we not play our hand on this occasion. The more Dr. Smith and his Rangers associate the state young McKnight finds himself with our machinations, the less they will hold back."

Elsa gave a brief nod. "As you wish, master." She studied the display. "At least he seems more... instinctive than he was."

"Indeed." Mesogog purred. "Though our attempts all those months ago to enlist the Red Ranger as one of our fierce dino-men was thwarted by his fellow Rangers, his progresssssive mutation continuessss."

The tyrant furrowed his brow in contemplation. "Have you taken to remodulating his medication when he is not looking? Such drasssstic results are ... unexpected."

"Yes, Lord Mesogog," Elsa said. "I've made sure that his medication... is not as effective as it should be, thus causing more problems for the Rangers. And within the Rangers."

"Excellent." He favored Elsa with a gentle caress with the back of his hand. "You have served me well in these recent days, my loyal general. Far better than your opposite number."

Elsa smiled at her lord. "Thank you, Lord Mesogog. And speaking of him..."

The door to the room slid open to reveal a dark figure in armor.

.

"Hayley!" Terrance cried into his morpher. "We've got a situation out here. You need to work on neutralizing Conner's energy signal, even for five seconds."

Any response she might have made was interrupted by a horrible roar as Conner shifted to Superdino Mode and continued to whale on Ethan and Trent. Kira and Devin fell back beside Terrance, the young man still trying to keep the Shield of Triumph between himself and the action.

"I so need to be able to morph!" Devin wailed.

"Dr. T," Kira said, "We have a problem."

"His name's Conner," Trent muttered, "And he's insane."

Terrance blanched, unable to find within himself the sentiment to contradict Trent's words. "Ethan, Kira," he said as the two other Rangers fell in beside them, "get ready to demorph. We have to use Triassic."

"Right," the two chorused, looking at each other.

"Trent, keep Conner off our backs for a second," Terrence commanded.

"Right, Dr. Smitty." Trent shifted into his own mode.

Devin shot a glance at his teammates before readying the shield. "You guys just promise me that you'll get to safety when things get brutal."

"We will," Kira promised. "Trent's getting pretty bruised holding off Conner."

"It's all part of the job," Trent grunted, stabbing at Conner with one of his wrist-mounted swords.

The Red Ranger roared with inarticulate rage, backslashing the other with his spikes fully extended.

Devin flinched, and steeled himself. Kira and Ethan extended their arms, energy flowing from their morphers and into the center of the shield. "Triassic Thunder, Power Up!"

The Triassic Ranger materialized in storm of energy, his suit briefly fluctuating from lack of input and the red across the togs fading to a dull gray. Devin inspected his arms critically as Kira and Ethan scampered to safety. "I just hope this is enough."

"Devin! Go help Trent!" Terrance surged forward as Trent doubled over from a particularly viscous blow.

Devin slammed into the Red Ranger, throwing him back into a streetlight, and switching him back to his normal morphed mode.

"Conner, bro, I don't want to hurt you!" Devin yelled. The Red Ranger, clearly dazed, seemed to respond to his words.

His morph lost focus, and shimmered out to reveal a dazed Conner McKnight.

The Triassic Ranger ran up to him, his shield shimmering back to extradimensional space. "Are you okay?" He asked, extending a hand.

"What happened?" Conner asked, looking around. "Did Mesogoon show up?"

Devin shook his head. "Naw, man - you must have gone off your meds or something. We need to get you back to Dino Ops before scaly-butt does show up."

"Oh," Conner said, still disoriented. "Right." He shook his head.

Trent shifted out of morph. "That's it, I'm out of here."

"Trent!" Ethan called. "You don't-"

The telltale sound of an invisiportal materializing jerked the team out of their collective brooding. The familiar sight of a fierce black-clad warrior stood between them and their assorted Raptor Cycles.

"I do hope I'm not intruding, Dr. Smith." Zeltrax growled. "I simply didn't want your team's attention divided when I finally destroyed you!"

"Oooh, how pretty," Conner murmured, entranced by the sight.

Trent shifted back into morph. "What do you want, melt-head?"

"Why, to destroy the illustrious Dr. Terrance Smith!" Zeltrax summoned his sword and axe simultaneously. "One final confrontation. My humilitation before Mesogog is nearly complete, Terrance. Grant me this."

Terrance's fist clenched. "Everyone return to base. Hayley will know what to do for Conner. And that includes you too, Trent. I'll handle Zeltrax."

"But Dr. T-" Kira began to protest.

"Go!" Terrence commanded. "This is between me and Zeltrax."

Kira gave a slow nod, and she, Devin, and Cass began to haul Trent in the direction of the cycles.

"At last," the cyborg said, "at last I have you exactly where I want you. At last you will finally pay for what you did to me all those years ago."

"What did I DO?!" Terrance nearly yelled. "You've gone on about this perceived wrong for the last eight months. You have to believe me, I don't remember you! Whatever I did, surely it's not worth this vendetta? It's not worth our lives?"

"Yes!" Zeltrax called, before an Invisiportal shimmered into view.

"You imbecile!" Elsa screamed. "You heard Mesogog. You've disobeyed a direct order! Return the base and prostrate yourself before him!"

"But Elsa!" Zeltrax exclaimed, "I am about to destory Dr. Smith!"

Elsa unsheathed her own sword. "This ends here, Zeltrax. If you lay one hand on the Black Ranger I will be forced to destroy you."

Zeltrax huffed, but returned his sword to its sheath and seemed to bow to the other General. "As my lady wishes."

"No." Terrance said firmly. The two spun around, clearly reminded of his presence in something other than a hypothetical.

"I deserve an answer. Now. We don't have to fight, but I HAVE to know what this is about."

"You do not remember?" Zeltrax demanded swiftly. "You do not remember that you got what you did not deserve?"

"I've gotten plenty I don't deserve," Terrance replied.

"You truly do not remember?" Zeltrax asked, dumbfounded.

Terrance demorphed in a flash of light. "Zeltrax, if I knew who you were, I would have tried to make amends for what it was I did to cause you this pain. Believe me."

"Then you do not remember your 'fortune' in joining Dr. Anton Mercer's expedition as his assistant?" Zeltrax asked.

Terrance blanched. "I... I was replacing a man struck ill, I never did anything to acquire the job for myself..."

His voice dropped to a whisper. "Tommy?"

"No, Dr. Oliver is... I had hoped that his removal would bring me to Dr. Mercer's side."

Terrance sank to his knees, his head swimming. "No. No, you can't be ... you died! I saw you die!"

"I was fortunate that Lord Mesogog was keeping an eye on me."

"Let's move, you idiot," Elsa hissed.

The two vanished in a flash of light. Terrance began to bawl in confusion and rage.

"EDDIE!" he cried, his head thrown back.


	3. Chapter 3

"Erk." Conner gurgled. The Red Ranger's head cleared momentarily, revealing the concerned faces of his colleagues as well as that turncoat turnaboutTrent. He tensed, and before he could struggle free of his restraints he felt Hayley stick him in the shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Conner," she said at great distance. "We can't take the chance."

"Wha?" Conner asked. "Wha's he doing here?"

"Leaving," Trent said tersely. "Goodbye."

"You're not going anywhere," Hayley barked. Trent grimaced, returning to his seat. Hayley patted Conner on the head affectionately, her face already the picture of sirenity. "Trent helped us contain you after your latest episode. Dr. Smith wanted him to come here."

Conner's eyes widened. "Dr. Smitty! Where is he?"

"He was going to take on Zeltrax," Kira shrugged. "He told us to look out for you."

"But..."

"He'll be fine, Conner, but you need to rest, and take your meds."

"I took my meds! At school!"

"What?" Hayley asked, confused. "But when you acted up at the cybercafe, I checked your pill case. You were still fully loaded for the day."

Devin nodded, pulling the plastic tray out of Conner's knapsack and showing it to the restrained teen. "She's right, dude. I was there."

"But I was there! Principal Randall and the nurse saw me take them!"

Hayley shook her head in confusion. "There must have been some mixup with a couple of students' medication. I just hope nobody else has, uh, such a severe reaction to missing a dose."

The indicator light above the sensor bank flashed, and the north wall of the chamber rose revealing a discheveled Terrance Smith.

"Dr. T!" the teens cried jubilantly, racing up to their mentor.

"Did you cream Zeltrax?" Ethan asked hopefully.

Terrance forced a smile at his ward's question, briefly looking back at Hayley with darkened, deadened eyes.

"Dr T, are you all right?" Kira asked.

"And can I go home now?" Treant added.

"No," Terrance said simply. Who of the three he was addressing was not apparent.

"Okay everybody," Hayley clapped hastily, "why don't you all stay here and sort out your problems. Dr. Smith and I have some things we need to discuss upstairs. We'll make snacks or something. It'll be a Power Powwow."

Trent and Conner blanched as she strode across the base and activated the security measures, locking down all egress from Dino Ops save the central staircase. "Devin, we'll call you in a little while to help us serve, okay?"

"Okay, thanks Hayley!" Devin said cheerfully.

Trent groaned. "Do you really want to leave me alone with Conner?"

Hayley grinned. "I'll trust Devin, Cass, Kira, and Ethan to keep the two of you from killing each other."

She ushered her boyfriend and colleague upstairs, depositing him on the couch. "Terrance, what happened back there with Zeltrax?"

His eyes struggled to focus on her. "oh God, Hail ... I never imagined it could have been him. I finally know why Zeltrax wants to destroy me. What I did to him."

"Terrence, what happened?" Kayley asked urgently.

"Did I ever tell you..."

FIVE YEARS AGO...

Dr. Edward Payne wiped the sweat from his brow and took a moment to inspect the monolith towering above the archeological dig.

The younger doctor, freshly graduated, stepped beside him and smiled. "You just can't resist basking in your own reflected glory, can you?"  
The older man looked at him with an unexpected strength to his gaze. "I think I've earned it, Terrance. This represents my life's work. The inverse neutronic stabilizer will allow us the ability to date fossils with a thousand times the precision of ordinary carbon dating."

"If it works. Successfully."

"It will," Payne insisted. "Even without Anton Mercer Industries as a financier I am confident this prototype will operate at its optimal efficiency. All work in the lab has passed with flying colors."

"Everything changes in field testing, Eddie." Terrance said softly. "You know that. I just don't want you getting your hopes up. I mean that as your friend, not just your boss."

Payne huffed. "I'm sure it will work," the older man said, sounding irritated. "Now, if you'll excuse me?"

He turned away and walked off, oblivious to Terrance Smith's head-shaking and worried look. "I hope you're right, friend," Terrance said softly.

Payne made his way up the platform to the machine's control panel and began running down the litany of prestart procedures. The Silver Guardian escorts sent by AMI to guard the test site seemed on-edge. Terrance idly wondered if anyone had bothered to tell them what they were guarding.

Terrance sat down on the folding chair and crossed his fingers. He did want Edward Payne to succeed; the two men had spent too much time together in local bars for him not to. As the monolith shuddered, he shot up from the chair.

Small explosions began to erupt across the machine's superstructure, one sending the other man flying over he scaffolding to the ground below. From Payne's grunt, Terrance could access his friend was harmed, but not life-threateningly.

As he raced across the field, a protracted screech split the air, and tendrils of green energy deposited a strange gray creature and what looked like heavily modified Tyrannodrones between them.

"Who in the hell are you?" Terrence yelled, screeching to a halt while he tried to find a way to get to his friend.

"You may call me MESOGOG," it hissed. "You needn't worry about your friend's experiment, Dr. Smith. The inverse neutronic stabilizer works perfectly - provided it has all its components installed!"

From inside his tunic Mesogog produced a sophisticated routing mechanism. "Such a shame how fickle these creations of man can be, eh?"

"You... you bastard!" Terrance yelled. "I won't let you have the device... or Eddie!"

Mesogog cackled. "You fail to understand me, doctor. I have no use for either the machine or its creator. What I cannot allow, however, is for you to have access to those designs. Bring him!"

With that two of the Tyrannodrones lifted the prostrate man, binding him under the arms and dragging him to Mesogog. The creature inspected the older man for a moment, disgust evident on his face.

"So PATHETIC is man," he hissed, "and so FRAGILE!"

With that he grabbed Payne by the neck and twisted.

"EDDIE!" Terrance screamed as a sickening crack was heard.

The creature - Mesogog - simply laughed as it, the Tyrannodrones, the device, and the body of Dr. Edward Payne disappeared.

He turned to face the startled Silver Guardians, rage darkening his handsome features. "Where the hell were you people? A good man is dead because of you!"

The slackjawed expression on the sub-commander's face and the screaming evident from his headset alerted Terrance to the fact that over half the guards were no longer present. He turned towards the nearby quarry, his eyes widening as he saw the Tyrannosaurus Biozord rampaging throughout the firing site for the device.

"Our experiments," Terrance whispered. "He got to it all..."

"I wouldn't know, of course, that Mesogog and Anton Mercer were the same person until Trent joined the team," Terrance said softly.

Oh Terrance," Hayley said, pulling him into a tight embrace. "You couldn't have known. I wouldn't expect you to. I can't believe Edward would blame you either."

"But he does," Terrance said heavily. "And... he wouldn't believe what happened to him even if I told him."

"We'll get through to him." Hayley insisted. "Just like we're doing with Trent. No institution built on fear can sustain itself indefinitely."

Terrance sighed. "We're not doing a great job with Trent, either."

"I'd disagree." Cassidy said softly from the stairwell. "I'm sorry to intrude, but the others were getting restless for their snacks. Dr. Smitty, you have to realize how much good you've already done for Trent. He may not trust us, but he trusts the two of you."

Hayley shooed Terrance back down to Dino Ops. "Just be there for them. It's all you can do right now. And send Devin up to help us if you'd be so kind."

Terrance favored his girlfriend with a smile. "Right." He sighed once more and went down with Cassidy to survey any mess that had been made while he was unburdening himself.

Trent winced as Terrance continued his ministrations on the boy's injured shoulder. "Seriously, Dr. T- I can handle this myself. I stole some medical supplies from my da- Mesogog's lab."

"So I'm just good for stitching you back together, not upkeep and maintenance?" the doctor asked with a ghost of a smile.

"Dr. T..." Trent shook his head. "Look, I'm here because Hayley said so. I appreciate what you're doing, but it'll heal. And I'm safer and you're safer if I'm not here."

"You mean, because of Conner?" Terrance asked mildly. "Trent, he's normally all right. It's just... he needs help, after what Mesogog did to him early on. The reptilian part of his brain is taking over. And as for Mesogog... I'm not going to be in any more danger now than I was before."

"I'm a liability." Trent said firmly. "I was to my biological parents, I was to myself, and I will be to you. Everything I touch I destroy, because everything I touch is tainted by Mesogog."

"Trent, you don't really believe that..." Terrance faltered, because he did, indeed, see the belief in the young man's face and posture. "But you do."

Trent laughed humourlessly. "I do."

Terrance sighed. "I don't know if this means anything through all that hurt, but I respect you. I also respect how you've managed to pull yourself up through all this. You'll be a fine man one day, Trent. The best."

"If I survive. If I keep my Dad from destroying the world. Keep everyone else from suffering Conner's affliction."

"You can't put that on yourself. Not alone. It's not your responsibility."

"It's my father. It's what I did. And because I..."

"I hope the next sentence was not going to end 'I hate myself'."

Trent looked up sheepishly like a child with his hand caught in the cookie jar. "Maybe it was."

"Trent."

"I mean it, Mr. T!" Trent exclaimed, wincing in pain. "This is all my fault! Mesogog twisted my Dad's paternal instincts and is trying to make a new world for me!"

"You can't believe that," Terrance said, taking a seat next to him. "Mesogog still has familial instincts towards you because your father's love is too strong. He'd be doing this whether he cared about you or not, he just gets to conch it in an altruistic motive this way."

He nodded across the base to Conner, being spoon-fed applesauce by Kira. "Conner hates you, and he's still driven to attack humans by his reptile brain. Is he your fault as well?"

"My father did this to him. And I should have known. Instead, I was blithely living my life, working for Hayley, ignoring what was going wrong with my Dad..."

Terrance fought the urge to grab him by the shoulders, instead awkwardly folding his hands over his lap. "Trent, we can always blame ourselves in retrospect for the things we should have seen, or decisions we should have made. You can't live your life wondering what might have gone differently. All we have is the here and now. We need you with us here and now. More importantly, you need us."

"I do?" Trent asked. "Conner hates me, Kira hates me... it really was safer when I was trying to leave town and save you all."

Kira doesn't hate you," Terrance insisted. "She's had her heart jerked around for the last eight months, and you're a part of that. Conner I'll concede, though he does have exaserbating circumstances and a rage problem. But what about Hayley, Ethan, Devin, Cassidy and myself?"

"You're safer without me. My Dad's insane."

"We're safer with you here. Trent, you can save your father and the world better if you'd just be here. Be part of our team. Let our strength enhance ours, and let yours enhance us."

Trent slumped forward, suddenly wincing as he tore a stitch. Terrance sighed, easing him back and tending to the boy's injured shoulder again.

.

.

.

"There now," Kira whispered as she dabbed a smattering of applesauce from the corner of Conner's mouth," don't you feel better?"

"I'd feel better if I was allowed solid foods," Conner groused. "I'm not an invalid."

"Well, we'd kinda like your meds to take effect," Devin said nearby, organizing his camera case. "You know, before we let you go."

"And why is Trent still here?" Conner asked. "Dr. T should know better than to trust Mesogog's son. For all we know, White Boy is turning into a lizard himself."

Kira looked away sharply at that. Devin continued to fiddle with a telephoto lens.

"Nobody can answer me that, can they?" Conner demanded. "He's probably getting intel for Mesogog even now!"

"Looks like he's getting his shoulder stitched to me," Cass answered.

Conner glowered at her. "We need to deal with him now, while he's vulnerable."

Kira turned back, her eyes large and damp. "Conner, have you any idea what we go through with your - problems? The fear for what this must be doing to you? The worry that this is going to be the time we lose you for good? And you would DARE to put that on someone else, even after what Trent did to us? Guilt isn't for victims, it's for survivors!"

"So what?" Conner growled. "The bastard is Mesogog's son!"

"He's Anton Mercer's son," Cass said defensively. "There's a difference. Just like there's a difference between the Conner McKnight I consider my friend and the person I'm speaking to right now."

"I'm still the same Conner, no matter what Mesofreak did to me!" Conner told her desperately. "And I think nothing would be better than to deliver Trent back to his daddy in pieces."

Kira started to cry, tearing up the stairs two at a time. The slamming of the front door a moment later attested to her current whereabouts. Cass favored Conner with a sour look.

"What?" Conner asked, mystified.

"You aren't the Conner McKnight we once knew," Cassidy said softly.


	4. Chapter 4

Conner McKnight liked to think his mind was once his most stalwart companion. He wasn't a 'brain' by any means, and his middling grades were often the result of coasting on the barest amount of information possible, but his mind was hardwired for intuitive strategic thinking. He knew the mechanics of soccer the way Ethan knew the inner workings of computers.

As the effects of the antipsychotics set in he reflected that his mind was now an unreliable narrator, eager to color events to suit the convenience of his paranoia. He hated it. The cold, detached logic with which he could dismiss the lives of others. That sense of perverse other which breathed down his neck whenever he let his concentration slip.

A shiver ran through him. The others were still about, with the exception of Kira, who had been pissed at what he'd said. Whatever he'd said. Devin, their newest Ranger, was playing with his lenses, Cassidy was fiddling with her palm pilot, Ethan was doing something for Dr. T, and Dr. T was trying to stitch up Trent's shoulder. Again.

It was so easy for him to hate Trent. Hate him for what he'd done to all of them, hate him for betraying their trusts as the White Ranger, hate him for not stopping his father when he had a clear opportunity. It was so easy to hate him, Conner knew, that the rage wasn't entirely born of himself.

He was changing. Cassidy was right. He was losing himself to whatever Mesogog had done to him, leaving him lost. He wondered if it was because Trent was who he was that he hated the other Ranger, or if somehow, he was under Mesogog's control.

Fresh rage surged through him, rage he knew was directed to the mutant. Mesogog had violated him in a way Conner could have never imagined. It had been only moments after their arrival at school the morning after discovering their Dino Gems. Dr. Mercer had taken him aside before class while Kira and Ethan spoke to Dr. T on the playground.

Conner almost chided his ignorance in retrospect, though he never could have suspected his science teacher was the man- the creature that had dedicated itself to the retrieval of the Dino Gems.

He remembered only collapsing, and then waking up in the chair in Mesogog's lab. Had Mesogog changed him at that point? Or was he still Conner McKnight then, and the true torture had come later?

For a vague second, he wondered if Trent would have suffered the same fate if he hadn't been Anton Mercer's son. For all he knew, Trent could have been going through the same programming.

Conner sighed heavily, getting Devin's attention. He nodded in the direction of a juice box Hayley and Cassidy had procured earlier. "You mind?"

The Triassic Ranger shook his head, scooting over and extending the straw to Conner's mouth. He drank, smiling gratefully afterwards. "Appreciated."

The next words caught in his throat, and he forced them out. "Dev, I'm - sorry for the trouble I've been causing you guys."

Devin shook his head. "Thanks. But not the guy you need to be apologizing to, man."

"You mean..." Conner nodded over towards where Dr. T spoke softly to Trent. The other looked likely to bolt at any moment, shirt or no.

Devin nodded. "For starters. You don't have to like him. You don't even have to trust him. I'm not sure I trust him, really. We're a team. We have to work together or we're never going to stop Mesogog."

"It hurts," Conner said. "That he could have stopped it so easily..."

Devin nodded. "I know. That's part of why I can't trust him, really. But I also know shooting a man in the back isn't honor, and right now personal honor is all that's keeping Trent from taking his life."

Conner raised his eyebrows. "Trent? Honor?"

"Have you TALKED to him since he left Mesogog? Not fought, I know you both love to do that. Have you had a conversation with him? Have you seen the stuff he's drawing?"

Conner shook his head. "He still draws?"

"He does," Devin sighed. "It's all D&D stuff. Paladins, knights on horseback. Real medival vibe. The stuff they're fighting is just ..."

Devin struggled for words. "Bleak. Shapeless. I've had some experience with depression myself, Conner. I know what that's like."

"I feel so sorry for him." Somewhere in him, he should feel pity, but something was preventing him from do so.

"You should, man. Depression's serious business. Dr. T had to do some serious counseling, or Trent wouldn't be here now."

Conner sighed heavily, leaning back on the cot. "When'd you get wise, anyway?'

Devin smiled. "Always was. Never had a venue for it."

"Yeah, I guess that would happen, as Cass' right-hand man... erm."

"Hey, Cass has her own attractions. And it's cool that she and Ethan are dating. He's good for her." There was a wistfulness in Devin's voice that Conner couldn't quite understand. "Besides, dad doesn't like her. Too... blonde."

"Hey, she's a nice ... Aryan girl." Conner finished lamely.

Devin looked at him askance. "My parents are Asian, or did you forget?"

"I keep forgetting you're adopted."

Devin considered that for a moment as he started unfastening the restraints along the cot. "Most of the time I forget it too. Dad, however, has never remembered. He wants me to marry a nice botanist or middle manager somewhere."

"Not Cass?"

"Definitely not Cass. He wants me to have a quiet life, have 2.5 kids, keep the family line going..."

Conner clasped his friend on the arm once he was released. "I'm sorry, dude. Are you managing?"

"Yeah. I'm just glad Mom'n'dad don't know what I'm really doing..."

"Maybe they'd let up a little if they knew the truth? Not, you know, that I could tell mine or anything."

"The first thing mom and dad would do, especially dad, is ground me until I was 18. And what would you guys do for the Triassic Ranger then?"

"Me?" Conner asked mischievously.

"No chance, Dude, power doesn't work that way," Devin said.

Conner gave him a small smile. "Too bad," he said.


	5. Chapter 5

Cassidy rapped lightly on the hatch leading up from Dino Ops, jerking Kira out of her revere. "Hey. I heard you come in. Would you like to talk?"

Kira sniffled again. "I can't believe those two. Or at least Conner."

Cass sat down in the chair opposite her, and took the smaller girl's hands. "You have to remember that isn't the Conner we know. That's ... the thing Mesogog put in Conner's head talking. Conner especially needs to remember that."

"We're lucky, day to day, if Conner remembers who he is," Kira said sharply. "And Trent... don't get me started with Trent."

Cassidy let out a deep breath, staring at her feet for a moment. "I don't know how you do it, truthfully. Devin and I have been a part of this for such a short time, and it's already been the most taxing thing in my life."

"It isn't much easier at this point, either. I mean, I accepted being a Ranger. It's not like I really had a choice in the matter, anyway. But you just live. Somehow."

Cass bit her lip, again avoiding Kira's gaze. The smaller girl wondered what had gotten into her.

"I haven't been much of a friend to you, have I?" she finally asked.

"You've been a great friend... at least the last month or so. And Devin... it's nice that he can wear the armor."

"I'm just so sorry," she mumbled. "Sorry I didn't see it sooner, sorry I couldn't take the burden off of you. Sorry ... sorry if I took Ethan from you. I know he's the only real friend you've had lately."

"I wish I'd seen him first," Kira joked weakly.

Cass laughed gently. "It seems to me you had seven months."

"Yeah, well, you never notice your teammates," Kira said ruefully. "I don't think I'd have even noticed Trent if he'd gotten his powers the same time the rest of us had."

"Do you ever worry about how it's going to end between Trent and Conner?" she asked abruptly. "They've both made you such a part of this."

"Hopefully without either one dismembering the other," Kira said.

Cass sighed, slumping forward. Kira could feel the other girl's hands drenching hers, and sensed this was awkward territory for her.

"How does it make you feel to have been thrown in all this?"

"Like an object," Kira admitted. "Like for all I feel for them both, neither really thinks about me as a person. I'm another status symbol between them. Like nobody loves Kira for who Kira is."

"I think they do," Cass said, "It's just that... well, they're guys, and both of them have mental disorders, that's all."

Kira laughed without a trace of humor. "I sure know how to pick a horse, don't I?"  
She gestured to her guitar case, strewn on one of Dr. Smitty's other chairs. "You know I spent most of the time wandering around the ranch trying to come up with a song about all this? Figured I might as well get some material out of my misery. Kept going back to my favorite song as a girl."

"Oooh?" Cassidy said, her eyes lighting up.

Kira picked up the guitar. "Now I see I'm up to no good, and I wanna start again, can't remember when I felt good baby, no I can't remember when..."

Cassidy clapped softly as the song ended. "That was beautiful," she said. Kira could tell that wasn't false praise, and the song had really touched the other girl.

Kira looked away, slightly embarassed. "Thanks. My mom used to be part of Debbie Gibson's road crew, so I heard that song a lot."

"Your mom was..."

"Yep. That's how I learned to play the guitar. I wanted to be part of the world my mom's boss was a part of."

Cass smiled weakly, clearly uncomfortable with comforting another person. Kira had to admire her effort.

"Shame the song doesn't give you any guideposts, huh?" she finally volunteered.

Kira gave her a wry grin. "Yeah."

Cassidy looked at the lamp on the table. "Devin and I are going soon... want me to give you a ride?"

Kira nodded. "I'd really appreciate that. Do you have to be home soon, or would you like to stay with me for a while? My parents always make too much food."

"Food sounds good. Devin eats enough for the both of us, though."

Kira laughed. "My parents use buffet style dining - old quirk of my dad's. We have a big house. They might love him."

Cassidy grinned. "That's great! Let's get out of here."

.

"Zeltrax," Mesogog rumbled, "Let uss talk about your... suicidal streak as of late."

"My master," the cyborg bowed. "There is no excuse for my behavior. My desire to destroy Dr. Smith has clouded me to your wisdom. I seek nothing less than repentance."

Mesogog drummed the arm of his throne. "I would hope ssooo. While destroying Dr. Smith and his children would be... most enjoyable, I would seek to destroy them from within."

Zeltrax did not avert his gaze from the mutant's feet. "As is the most prudent course of action, sire. I leave myself at your mercy to do with as you wish."

Mesogog hissed, and bared one claw, striking out at Zeltrax. "You are... fortunate that I need a skilled warrior with some sense of tactics."

The cyborg did not flinch, taking the blow. "I am fortunate, master. I will not disobey you again, on my life."

"You had better not!"

Zeltrax was dismissed, clattering into the hallway before Mesogog could inflict further damage to his person. Elsa, leaning against a support beam, looked at him oddly.

"What's your game, Payne? Why the masochistic streak with Lord Mesogog?"

"I only seek to please our lord," Zeltrax intoned. "After all, it is he who saved me from death."

Elsa rolled her eyes. "You're like a puppy, you know that? It's pathetic. And just like a puppy, you keep making accidents all over the place that we're left to clean up."

"I did not mean to inconvenience you, my lady."

Elsa sashayed over to him, waggling her finger underneath his chin. "If you intend to kill yourself with this vendetta, just get it over with for all our sakes. If you intend to be Mesogog's lapdog, start shaping up. It's that simple."

"You would do the same for any man who had wronged you."

Elsa crossed her arms. "And what do you know of those who have wronged me, Zeltrax? Do you know their names at all? Do I define myself by those things?"

"I presume you have destroyed all in your path, my lady." Zeltrax bowed. "Now, if you do not mind, I must recharge. I am sure Lord Mesogog will seek my redemption soon."

Elsa grunted acknowledgment, returning to her perch.

;

"Something's bothering me about Conner's meds," Hayley said to Terrance after all the kids had gone.

"What do you mean?" Terrance asked, looking up from one of his notebooks. He felt exhausted, like all of the emotion had been bled out of him by the day's unending stream of crises. "He skipped a dose, probably by accident."

"This isn't the first time, Terrance. The only reason he hasn't had more of these... incidents is that I double-check at the cafe. As it is, I wasn't there at the start, when he was throwing Trent around and trying to strangle him. I was lucky to get in when we did, because Trent wasn't struggling that much."

Terrance rubbed his temples, trying to process the new information. He understood why Hayley would keep this from him, but that didn't mean he had to like it. "Gah, something else to consider - Mercer messing up the dosage."

"That's what I was thinking," Hayley said neutrally.

Terrance took off his glasses and slid beside his girlfriend. "You're omitting something. What's the matter?"

"Mercer wasn't there when Conner took his medication."

"Ugh," Terrance said sourly. "No time for him to have made a change prior? No, likely not... he'd have to replace it after."

"He has first-period science with Anton Mercer, and then he doesn't see him for the rest of the day."

"Do you have any ideas?" Terrance asked.

"Not a one," Hayley said. "Either Conner's imagining taking the meds, or something weird is going on. I know he's told me once the principal meets him on the way there, because she checks on the nurse at that time of day."

"You have a better relationship with the principal than I do," he allowed, remembering the skirmish the Black Ranger and principal had gotten into over the Dimetrozord Egg after a field trip of Mercer's uncovered it.

"Not really," Hayley said. "I think she's an arrogant bitch on a power trip."

"Yes, but you're a more naturally forgiving person," he said, slipping an arm around her waist and grinning roguishly.

"Only to handsome palentologists and clumsy patrons," Hayley pointed out.

"Then I suppose it's a good thing Anton's an evil mutant."

Hayley grinned. "Yeah, it is." She rubbed an imaginary speck of dirt off his cheek. "Poor Trent."

"He said he'd consider moving here, at least. I consider that a rousing victory after the last couple weeks."

"That is good... for Trent," Hayley said. "You sure you can handle a ravenous teenage boy in all this?"

"I think I don't have a choice," Terrance smiled. "Trent needs a family, and this house was starting to feel too big again, wasn't it?"

Hayley smiled and leaned against him. "I was thinking more along the lines of how much Trent packs away in food at work."

"We could always dip into the raptor feed," he ventured. "I mean, we'd need to kill and grill the meat first."

Hayley snorted. "At least he's not getting chubby, thanks to the exercise. Of course, from all the Rangers I've seen in the archive footage, none of them are chubby, either."

Terrance nodded, rubbing the back of his head. "There's so much we don't understand about these powers, besides what Anton's company managed to salvage from those wrecked Zords. I wish we knew a way to contact the other teams, or request assistance or something."

"It would make our lives easier, having someone with experience," Hayley agreed. "But Ranger teams aren't usually listed in the phone book."

"Well, besides the one, but I don't have deep enough pockets to call Bio Lab myself."

Hayley nodded bleakly. "So much for help on that end."

She leaned into his embrace, her face resting in the crook of his neck. "We'll work something out, Hale. I mean it. We'll find a way to stop Mesogog."

"I know we will," Hayley said drowsily.


	6. Chapter 6

Trent walked cautiously down the city street to where he was making his home. As he'd tried to tell Dr. T, it wasn't safe for him there. It wasn't safe for anyone to be with him.

Which, of course, meant that his home was an abandoned warehouse out on the reaches of the city.

Trent pried open the rusted truck port, sliding under the door and making his way to the administrative offices. His cot and hot plate weren't quite on par with the Mercer Estate's amenities, but they kept him alive long enough to fight against Mesogog.

Trent didn't like to think about what stopping Mesogog would entail for either himself or his father.

He didn't like to think about a lot of things, nowadays, least of all the monster his father had become. It was bad enough that he, himself, had become a monster, ever since his father had forcibly introduced him to the White Gem.

Tossing off his shirt, Trent washed a day's worth of soot and sweat from his face, wincing at the ice cold water. Despite the temperature during the day, it could get bitterly cold in northern California at night.

Trent idly wondered if he might be able to rig up a functional water heater. It wouldn't provide him with a shower, but it would be better than this.

Anything, sometimes, would be better than this.

But he had to fight. Dr. Smitty was right, on that one thing. Now if the man only understood what a danger Trent was to everyone, so much the better.

To save him, to save the others, Trent could only hide, and hope nobody looked too closely at him.

The rusty screech of the garage door sent Trent's danger sense into overdrive. He threw his shirt back on, and cautiously remolecularized his morpher before slipping out of the office and into the heavy shadows of the warehouse.

"Trent?" came a harrowed voice.

Trent moved cautiously towards the voice, not daring to speak for fear that the visitor was Mesogog. Or somebody else. He wasn't always sure of the difference, nowadays.

"Trent? Son, it's me. I swear, it's me."

The young man flinched, knowing only too well the beast underneath his father's skin. His fingers caressed the tab on his Dragomorpher.

"This is where Mesogog has figured you're hiding. He's been running constant sensor sweeps. He's even begun to rig the sewer system with trip lasers. I had to warn you before he took control again ..."

"He really wants me bad," Trent said softly.

Trent could see his father wince in the pale moonlight. "More than you can imagine," he murmured. "I wish ... I wish I could tear it all out of me, son. My love for you, it's all knotted up in him. But you have to stay strong. Mesogog isn't me. You can't treat him any differently because we share this body."

"Even though he still thinks he loves me... in his own way."

"If you hadn't become a Ranger, son, I think your next stop would have been stasis."

He tried in vain not to think of what that might entail. "Dad, we'll find a way. Dr. T knows, he's working on an antidote."

The older man shook his head. "No, no matter how much you run, eventually you'll have to face me. Face him."

He looked up, his eyes set and determined. Trent knew that look from countless board meetings he'd sat in on. A look the reptilian side of Anton Mercer had gladly taken as its own when it began manifesting control over his human body. "It could all be over, son. One blow in this form would finish me."

"Dad..." Trent breathed. "You know I can't murder my own father!"

Mercer held up his left hand, already pulsating with a strange energy. "I can't hold him back forever. If my death is the cost of destroying Mesogog, I'll take it. I'm asking you this as your father. SAVE me."

"Dad!"

"Trent. Focus!"

Trent ran.

His feet barely hit the ground as he made his way out of the warehouse and down labyrinthian alleyways. The world began to blur together as he bobbed and weaved, trying to stay one step ahead of the screams.

Oh God, the screams...

He'd had them every night, heard them every night, ever since his father had saved him. He wished that they would go away... and again, it was rapidly becoming apparent that once the whole battle was done, he should seek to be away from this life.

An explosion of light erupted in front of him, revealing Mesogog's chief general and the man Trent had nearly supplanted for a time. The backlash sent Trent careening backwards, overturning a trashcan.

"You should know better then to disobey your father, whelp." Zeltrax snarled.

"Zeltrax," Trent snarled back. He triggered his morpher, knowing better than to try to fight his father's general in civilian form.

The White Ranger shot forward, his Dragosword slamming into Zeltrax's wrist with all of his strength. The cyborg cried out, dropping his axe and pivoting to avoid the rest of the blow.

Trent took advantage, swinging the sword up, aiming to put Zeltrax off balance... at least enough to get out of there.

The tip of his blade slid between the armor plates separating Zeltrax's torso from his helmet. The cyborg made an odd gurgling sound, and electrical current shot out from the sword's point of entry.

Trent jerked backwards, dislodging the sword and shooting a spray of something black and horrible smelling all over.

The general looked at him goggle-eyed for a moment, stumbling forward and collapsing in a heap.

Trent stumbled back, and ran.  
Ethan was one of those people who liked computers more than he liked people.

It wasn't that he hated people, and it wasn't that he was antisocial. Ethan liked the immediacy of computers. The meticulous way a piece of good hardware and reliable software melded together to produce something greater than the sum of their parts.

He liked the way a computer elevated him, and those like-minded individuals, to a higher plateau than they might reach without them. Even conversations online were more dense, more thoughtful than those he might have in the real world.

That, perhaps, was what attracted him to Cassidy. Her net persona was so thoughtful and detached, so unconcerned by the trappings of high school which seemed to consume every making moment of her real life.

It was what had led him to be with her. What had brought both her and Devin into their up from his work table, Ethan saw it was nearly midnight. Though he'd have been happy to keep working until the wee early hours of the morn and simply conk out in the middle of PE, he suspected Principal Randall wouldn't give him a pass just because he was fulfilling most of his educational requirements off school grounds.

With a sigh he stopped his experiments, scooting his chair across the floor and preparing to log his main computer offline.

His efforts were stopped by his computer beeping, the result of a continual monitoring of USENET. Clearly, somebody had mentioned his team. An additional beep showed that he had a new email message.

Checking the 'bot first, Ethan relaxed. Most of his monitoring took place in -rangers, the internet's premiere Power Rangers community and the only place he knew of gather intelligence - such as any existed online. This post, however, was simply an allusion in .sightings to how obvious a vampire would have to be before people began taking notice.

Satisfied that the 'bot had found nothing important, he turned to the email. This was one of his other monitoring activities - email lists devoted to him and his fellow superheroes.

He was pleasantly surprised to see the letter was actually from a friendly associate of his, though one as was so often the case lately, from the ranger monitoring attempts. Samurai Cam was one of the more vocal participants in the ranger USENET group, often making long and complicated theories drawing on what was publicly known about the various teams. It was Samurai Cam who most strongly insisted the Space Rangers had not been the original team of Rangers, drawing on tenuous information that even Ethan found suspect.

Of course, since he'd become a superhero, things were easier to believe than ever. After all, of course, who was dating Cassidy Cornell, reporter? Who was friends - more or less - with Conner McKnight?

Cuing up the email, Ethan was pleasantly surprised. Cam had foregone business for a change, and was advising him on possible ways to deal with his blooming relationship.

Ethan shook his head. He'd been feeling pretty desperate when he'd written that letter, he'd have never told someone like Cam about his relationship with Cassidy unless he was really at his wit's end.

He had the feeling, after reading the email, that Cam had done this before. At least the guy wasn't snarky, like he sometimes tended to get with other posters.

Ethan sent a correspondence back to Cam, thanking him for the advice. At least he didn't feel that stupid asking a complete stranger. Dr. T was pretty clueless in the romance department, Trent was... not a happy camper, Conner was insane, and Devin... he felt like he was taking Devin's girl away, so he couldn't ask the Triassic ranger.

It wasn't even like he could ask Kira, knowing how strained the girl already was romantically in her life. Ethan hated to see his friend in so much pain, but he also knew they had to take happiness wherever they could find it.

He only hoped Kira would find it soon, before she paid a higher price than the rest of them.  
Cassidy relaxed on her cot in Kira's room. Devin had gone home hours earlier, after dinner, and Cass had stayed, after securing permission from her mother. She sensed that the Yellow Ranger needed the support, especially with the whole thing with Trent and Conner going on.

She herself was so lucky to know Ethan. Sure, he was the King of all Computer Geeks, but he was kinda fun once you got to know him. And him in his armor... Cassidy nearly swooned at the thought.

Kira looked across the room, her brow scrunching. "Are you sure you wouldn't like the bed? Seriously, half the time I end up asleep on a heap of old clothes."

Cassidy bit back a smile. The smaller girl really didn't keep company that often.

"I'll be fine, Kira. You must be tired, after today." Devin had been frequently exhausted after becoming the Triassic Ranger... in fact, she'd had to call him once or twice to wake him up for school. She bet that Kira and the others slept like the bed... or at least most of them did. She was willing to bet that Trent had nightmares, given how tired and scared he looked most of the time.

Kira harumphed, pulling her arms behind her head and staring up at the ceiling. "I wish I was. I haven't slept well in months. I get thirty minute periods off and on."

"I'm glad I'm not a Ranger," Cassidy said. "I mean, being a reporter sounds so much more glorious, you know?"

Kira nodded. "There's a lot more recognition with it, certainly. You have more personal weight to throw behind causes, too. Just think, you could have a Cassidy Cornell Invitational tourney for your pet charities. If I want to release an album, I can't exactly put Yellow Ranger on my resume and get a contract."

"Not unless you want Dr. T killing you first," Cassidy observed wryly.

"Yeah, and I kinda don't want to become famous, like the Space Rangers were," Kira said. "I want to be judged on my own merits."

Cassidy nodded. "You want to have your personal life ripped away from you because you're a world famous singer, right?"

Kira laughed, leaning over the edge of the bed so they could make eye contact. "You know, I really don't want to be a superstar. I want to be reasonably famous doing what I love, and go home every night to a family that loves me."

Cassidy sighed. "I kinda want to be the same way. I mean, I like being a reporter. I'd love to be a star. But... not that way."

"Exactly," Kira said. "That's why I'm glad to just be Kira by day and the Yellow Ranger by battle."

Cassidy chewed her lip for a moment. Kira had put so much more thought into celebrity and what it meant than she had. All Cass had ever wanted was to be appreciated for the work she did. Was that enough? Was that a noble enough reason to become a reporter?

"How did it feel," she said suddenly, "to realize Kylee didn't have the same dreams as you? What did you think of her for - um, selling out?"

"I was crushed," Kira told her thoughtfully. "Told myself that I never wanted to be that way, to be so... shallow. Sure, I dream of getting a record deal... but I think I've realized there are things far more important. Even though it sometimes means getting hurt by those I love."

"Would you give it all up?" Cass wondered aloud. "If it meant saving the world, would you put down the guitar forever?"

Kira sighed. "I don't know."

Cassidy slid out of the cot, making her way over to Kira's bed and plopping down beside her. She nervously embraced the smaller girl. "I'm sorry," she stammered. "I just - I'm not like you. I'm not good, or noble, or altruistic. I so want to understand, you know? I want to help you so much."

"Cassidy, I'm not... I thought it was a joke, when Dr. T came across us and told us about what had happened. I never felt less like a superhero in my life. But yet, I'm still here..."

Cass shook her head, pulling the girl tighter. "It's not true. You're all so innately decent. You think about others, and you don't get afraid... I can't be like you, and I feel like a fifth wheel for acting like I can."

"At least Dr. T didn't almost call the cops on you, for walking into his underground lair," Kira told her, smiling slightly.

Cass giggled. "You must have given him quite a shock, dropping in unannounced and with no idea as to your identities. I hope for your sake you didn't mention Dr. Mercer?"

"No, just that it was an accident, and that... well, I don't know what would have happened if we hadn't picked up the gems. I'm just glad Conner got kidnapped after that or things would have gotten bloody..."

Kira tensed, her mind obviously going back to when they'd freed Conner from Mesogog's control - and unwittingly given Dr. T his Black Ranger powers. Cassidy felt like kicking herself for opening such a sore wound, and held the smaller girl tighter.

The last thing Cass would ever want was to hurt Kira. She was so strong and self-possessed and decent. She was everything Cassidy wanted to be, everything she wanted ... wanted ... Cassidy swallowed and held Kira even tighter.


	7. Chapter 7

Conner McKnight slid into his breakfast nook with an inarticulate grunt, hair still askew and bed clothes rumpled. It had been another fitless night of sleep, his brain haunted by half-remembered images of the previous day's activities.

At least, he reflected as he hunkered down with a bowl of watery and cinnamon laden oatmeal, he wasn't screaming anymore.

After digesting his second spoonful, he became aware enough of his surroundings to notice his brother Eric just finishing up his own breakfast, a neatly coordinated tray of perfectly balanced entrees. It was something Conner would have made himself, if he was still ... himself. He idly wondered when his twin had begun getting his act together.

He nearly laughed. Eric had his act together. Eric was becoming non-dorky. Well, except for his hair. Eric was... becoming not Eric.

As he had stopped being Conner, thanks to Mesogog.

"Hey bro," Eric said lightly. "You been feeling okay? You look, um... Dishwallaed."

"Disheveled," Conner murmured instinctively. Eric, to his credit, no longer flinched when corrected. Conner forced a smile for his barely younger brother. "I've been having some nasty dreams lately, that's all. But hey, how's life in private school?"

Eric gave him a watery smile. "I'm coping," he said. And that was all he said. Ever since he'd started taking ninja classes, he'd become... secretive. In a very annoying way.

It was always about secrets, Conner supposed. The secrets he'd kept from his family, the secrets Eric was keeping from him. He only wished more of those secrets had positive connotations.

The timer on Eric's watch screeched, and the younger of the McKnight brothers bolted out the front door with nothing more than a vague wave in the house's general vicinity.  
Conner sighed. So much for conversation. Not that Eric had much to offer, anyway. He stared at his food. He had to eat, he knew, or things would get worse. Mesogog's stupid mutation would get worse.

He forced down the sloppy mess, collecting his and Eric's dishes and depositing them in the sink. In the distance he could hear the television switch on in his mother's study, and knew his parents would be making their way downstairs. He'd have to be strong for them. Stronger than he was for Eric. And that strength would have to hold for another grueling day.

As much as he wished for death, there were times Conner wondered if he wasn't already.  
"Day of the living dead," he muttered, but there wasn't much humor to it.

But he could do it. He could make it. He had to. To see that freak Mesogog pay for what he'd done.

Cold rage surged through him, and Conner gripped the sink. No, not here. Let it pass, let it wash over you. Don't let control slip.

Remember what Hayley had taught him. Breath. Let it pass. Let it pass. Let it pass. Don't seem strange. Fit in.

"Hello, son!" his father's voice boomed behind him. Conner bit his lip, turning around and forcing a warm expression on his face.

"Dad, hey. I was just taking care of Eric's breakfast before I got ready for school."

His father smiled. "You've been eating a lot lately yourself."

"Psych said I needed to eat more."

His father nodded, gripping him firmly on the shoulder. Conner tried not to flinch at human contact. "We're all real proud of you, son. Not letting some chemical imbalance get in the way of you living your life. That Dr. Smith Hayley's dating, he's a Godsend. I don't know how he could have identified those symptoms on sight."

"Dr. Smith is a genius, Dad, I swear," Conner said. "He's done a lot for me."

His father patted him on the shoulder again. "So have you. Your mother and I hope you remember that. Mental health is all well and good, but emotional health plays a big part in that. We're all real proud of you."

"You said that already," Conner chuckled.

"And it's good you made some friends outside the soccer team," his mother added, coming downstairs. "I like Kira."

"So do I," Conner replied.

His mother smiled, brushing past his father and setting up the coffee maker. "I wish you'd invite her over some time for dinner. Goodness knows you've done more with your past girlfriends."

"Kira's not just any girl, mom. And she's got a boyfriend." He forced that last part out.  
"Oh," his mother said simply. She sounded disappointed. God knows he felt disappointed.  
"Well, what about the nice James boy?" his father interjected. "You talk about him all the time. Not to mention Greg Fong's boy. Whatsisname, Dilbert."

"Devin," Conner corrected automatically. "I might invite the two of them over."  
A knock on their back door spared Conner the humiliation of needing to recap his personal life in greater detail to his parents. He dove between them, making his way to the living room.  
Checking the peep hole, he was surprised to see Hayley mulling outside, chewing her lip.  
He opened the door. "Hay, what are you doing here?"

"I thought I might stop by," Hayley said. "Take you to school."

Conner tried to process the connotations of that and found himself deeply unnerved by what this might be about. "Um, alright. I should probably get dressed and untangle my hair. Give me about five?"

His mother appeared over his shoulder. "Why, Ms. DeMatteis, it's wonderful to see you. Would you like to come in? I just put on a pot of coffee."

"Thanks, I could use a cup," Hayley said. "Or at least half a cup."

"No problem," Conner's mother said cheerfully.

Conner smelled girl talk encroaching, and quickly skedaddled to the upstairs bathroom.  
He quickly combed his hair, and looked again for any signs of change. Hayley thought there would be some, not just psychological.

He ran his fingers through the back of his hair, mildly troubled to feel something protruding roughly where Mesogog's spikes emerged.

A further examination revealed they were probably oil glands, but this probably did merit investigation by Dr. T after school.

He'd just have to be careful. Breathe. Pretend everything was fine. He looked over his appearance one more time, and walked downstairs.

"I'm ready," he announced. Hayley looked up from the recliner, trying not to spit coffee all over.

"What?" Conner asked.

"I think," his mother snorted, "that while your wearing shorts and a wife-beater might be popular with some of the girls in your school, it's not exactly the sort of image you want to be projecting."

Conner looked down, realizing he hadn't changed his clothes after his examination. He looked back up, sheepishly. "I'm auditioning for Streetcar?"

"Conner," his mom said gently. "Go and change."

"Um, right, mom," Conner said, heading back upstairs.  
"You want to tell me what that was about?" Hayley asked after they'd gotten out of eyesight.  
"What?" Conner asked, distracted by the smell of fresh meat.

Hayley grunted, swapping sides of the sidewalk with the young man and forcing him away from the open kitchen window at the Morrosy's house. "I said, you looked pretty haggard back there. Is something getting worse?"

Conner nodded mutely.

Hayley sighed, producing a bottle from somewhere in her dress. "I was afraid of that. This is a stronger antimutigen Terrance has been working on. It'll stave off the worst of it, but it's a temporary measure. Once he has the cure for Mesogog, he'll have the cure for you."

"Shouldn't I wait -" he began. Hayley shook her head.

"I want to see it with my own two eyes. The antipsychotics can wait for Principal Randall."  
"Oh, fun," Conner muttered.

Hayley shrugged. "I want to know for a fact you're getting your dosage. Something happened yesterday with Randall, and I don't like it."

Conner nodded. "I don't like it much either."

The Red Ranger flinched as he swallowed the large pill without water. Hayley watched with a curious eye for the next half block, finally convinced he had in fact swallowed it.  
"Are you satisfied?" he asked levelly.

Hayley nodded. "I hate to be a mother hen, Conner, but it's the only way I can know you're not about to have another episode."

"Right," Conner gulped.  
"Trent Jacob Hernandez-Mercer, where the hell have you been?" Terrance asked, looking at the bedraggled form of the White Ranger. Wherever it was, the White Ranger was in no condition to go to school. He looked like he hadn't slept at all, and smelled like he'd spent the night in a dumpster.

Trent began convulsing and sank down onto the porch. He tucked himself into the fetal position and stared at the opposite wall as though Terrance wasn't even there.

"Shit," Terrance swore, and moved to pick the big-boned White Ranger up. Whatever had happened, Trent was in no fit state to do anything.

Trent whimpered as the Black Ranger touched him, pulling away.

"N - n -no," Trent stammered. "Please. Not safe."

"Trent, you're safe here," Terrance soothed, though it seemed quite futile.  
"No!" Trent yelped, pulling himself back until he tilted precipitously over the railing above Hayley's garden. "YOU'RE not safe!"

"Trent!"

Trent loooked wide-eyed and ran.  
The fetid stench of human waste and any number of noxious chemicals filled the alleyway. Mesogog breathed deeply, savoring the nearest approximation to his native swamp environment.

"Thisssssss," he purred, "almost makes up for what we are here to do."

The mutant stood over the mangled form of his once top general. Blood and coolant had run together, coagulating across Zeltrax's armor and nearly gluing him to the sidewalk.

He waved the Tyrannodrones closer. "Taaake him. Carefully."

Just as the beings were gently taking the general's body up, a particularly hideous-looking human stopped at the alleyway. "Hey, what's going on?"

Mesogog smiled. He had hoped not to run into any transients while retrieving his property, but the scent had put him in mind of home - and home put him in mind of the hunt.

"Mister, you ... you better get out of here before I get it in my mind to call the authorities!"

"Indeed," Mesogog hissed, pleased. The human froze in a parody of ninja movie moves.

Mesogog incapaciated him with a simple backhand, which sent the human reeling. The mutant sighed. This posed absolutely no challenge - but he could not let there be any witnesses to this.

A beam of concentrated psychic power lashed out of Mesogog's frontal lobe, engulfing the human. He resisted for only an instant, quickly succumbing to the stream of energy demolishing his subconscious mind's automated life support functions.

Mesogog continued to apply the beam until even the human's death spasms had abated.  
"That felt... exellent," he said, motioning to the Tyrannodrones to return their burden to the Island.

The creatures complied, dragging the remains through the invisiportal they had arrived in. Mesogog surveyed the alley for a moment before following. He rematerialized in his chamber, and motioned to Elsa.

"Dispatch TNTitan to obliterate the immediate area. A clean up crew is too conspicuous, and I want no evidenssse."

"Right away, Lord Mesogog," Elsa said. "Oh, and a human blundered his way into an invisiportal somebody accidentally activated." She glared at a cowering Tyrannodrone.

"I wouldn't call it blundered," came a voice from the shadows. Mesogog turned in surprise. He KNEW that voice from somewhere, though the inflections were different.

"You ALLOWED-"

Elsa shook her head. "He's harmless, my lord. We've already disarmed him, and he permitted himself to be manacled."

"He had better be," Mesogog hissed.

"Anyway, I thought we could make some use of him," Elsa continued smoothly. "After we... ah... take care of the remains."

"I had a better idea," the voice continued. "Let me go, and I'll help you destroy the Power Rangers. Honest injun."

"Shut up!" Elsa screamed.

Mesogog held up a hand. "Let us... hear him out."  
Terrance had given up chasing after the White Ranger and returned to his home, hoping to track the young man via the scanner system. At least until the former collapsed of exhaustion.

Though, he noted with some disgust, the latter seemed right on the verge of breaking down as well. He sighed as he switched off one of the computers slaved to the mainframe, pulling it out from the wall unit and prying open the front. They were burning out components faster than he or Hayley could replace them.

They needed a full integrated sensor network and supercomputer. They needed resources like every other single Ranger team probably possessed.

They didn't have them. Instead, they were one semi-competent paleontologist/archaeologist/doctor, a semi-genius with electronics, and five kids who had never seen battle before their Gems had bonded with them.

He sighed, and started tinkiering with the computer.

He just hoped Trent would curb his more self-destructive tendencies in the meantime.  
Someday, he'd convince Trent that everything that happened wasn't his fault, but that wasn't going to happen any time soon. Trent needed psychiactric care, and that care wasn't possible without compromising his secret identity.

The computer beeped as he replaced it in the wall.

The secondary monitor switched back on, tracking the implant Terrance had placed in Trent's bracelet the day before. He corroborated the readings with the GPS satellite Ethan had hacked into months back, and queued the Raptor Rider bay to open Black Rider's pen. Morphing, he went in search of his terrified white colleague.  
Devin yawned as the midmorning sun cast through his window. One of the advantages of his internship at the station, not to mention work alongside Cassidy, was that his school hours were far less strenuous than his fellow Rangers'. He rose out of bed and stretched, wincing as he strained a few of the bruises Conner had inflicted on him the day before.

No matter how exciting life as a Ranger was, he stil wished bruises went away instantly. He was glad his parents never saw how injured he was, or, well-meaning as they were, they'd never let him out of the house again.

There was a knocking on his door, and Devin quickly threw a long shirt on. "Just a second!" he cried.

His mother stuck her head in a moment later. "Devin, your sister is almost done in the shower. I thought you'd want to grab whatever hot water is left."

"Thanks, mom," Devin said, thinkin that the hot water would be perfect for the injuries. "I gotta go meet Cass early today."

His mother shook her head faintly. "Don't tell your father that. He barely tolerates your interning with channel 3, heaven knows what he'd do if he knew you were working with her off campus."

It was an old argument. Greg Fong barely understood his son's love of photography, and made it plain he expected Devin to follow in the family business. Gwendolyn Fong just barely understood her youngest child, and tried to help Devin live his own life - if only in the hopes he'd one day come to his senses and settle down.

"Right, mom," Devin said, glad his father didn't know about his little side job as a superhero. He grabbed his Zire, glad that he had it to keep track of where he needed to go. Cass would be so disappointed if he didn't show up.

She moved out of the doorway to allow him exit. As he headed towards the bathroom she abruptly hugged him.

"I know you don't hear it a lot in this house, but I am proud of you, son."

Devin gave her a small smile. "Thanks, Mom."  
Hayley grunted in frustration, bringing her head back against the reception area's wall. She'd been waiting to see Principal Randall for almost a half hour now, and the woman hadn't shown up yet.

Hayley closed her eyes, took a steadying breath, and counted to ten. This wouldn't do her any good. Heck, Randall might even have a perfectly good reason in being a cold hearted accomplice to premeditated medication chickanery.

Yeah, right. The phone rang, and the mousy receptionist answered. It was evident from her tone Randall was on the other line, and Hayley gripped the arms of her chair a bit tighter. 'Keep it together, girl. Terr thought you could do it.'

Maybe, if she was really lucky, the other woman had contracted something. Like a cold. Or lupus.

The receptionist finished her call, and looked up at Hayley with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "I'm sorry, Principal Randall got delayed. Do you mind waiting a bit longer?"

Hayley sighed, affixing a smile that she herself had been forced to use against her more belligerent customers. "That's no trouble at all."

"Thank you," the receptionist said, and returned to ignoring her, as if she were an inconvenient and ugly piece of furniture the district had pressed upon them.

Another mind deadening fifteen minutes passed before Randall burst through the office doors. The woman looked disgustingly chipper, and Hayley wasn't sure if this was an opportune time to strike or a horribly miscalculated one.

"Um, Principal Randall?" she offered, rising to her feet. "Hayley DeMat -"

"Yes," Randall said dismissively. "I remember. What do you want?"

"I've come to talk to you about one of your students," Hayley managed.

Randall rolled her eyes. "Somehow I suspected it wasn't to invite me to a potluck, Ms. DeMatteis." Her grin widened as she pinched one of Hayley's cherubic cheeks. "Though perhaps you should be avoiding those anyway."

Hayley resisted rolling her eyes. She bit back a reply that would have not furthered her cause. "Conner McKnight."

"Ah yes." Randall replied evenly. "Such a nice boy. It's a shame what he has to go through. He should be coming by the nurse's office in a couple of hours to take his medication. If you'd be willing to come back, you'd be welcome to see him."

"Maybe I should," Hayley said. "I want to make sure he does, because he caused a little scene later, since it seems he didn't take them."

Randall looked up in genuine surprise. "I find that hard to believe. I was there, as was Nurse Llewellyn. What in the world happened to Mr. McKnight?"

"I believe he tried to tear up the Cyberspace," Hayley said smoothly.

Randall's hand went to her mouth. "Oh my."

She looked at her secretary briefly, and ushered them both into her office before securely shutting the door. "Are you quite - I mean, how bad was it?"

"Thankfully, I know Kung Fu," Hayley said. "Actually, I was able to subdue him before he trashed my entire business."

"I'm terribly sorry," Randall said. Damn her, she seemed almost sincere. "But why do you think he didn't take his medication? We clearly saw him swallow the pills in our presence."

"I know the symptoms," Hayley said. "I saw him."

"Do you believe it might be possible for his condition to simply be worsening? I have a cousin with manic depression, and his mood swings even while medicated can be quite severe."

Hayley tried not to overreact. "Ma'am, I checked his pill case myself. It was fully stocked. He had not taken his medication."

Randall raised both eyebrows. "Perhaps his parents packed a second dose, and you found that container. I know the nurse likes the patients to carry a backup."

"I saw the McKnights myself before coming here. He had a single dosage. They are very careful to portion out his medication."

"What," Randall wondered, "do you think happened then? How do you account for two eyewitnesses, not to mention - I would hope, at least - Mr. McKnight's own word."

Hayley clenched her fist. Damn this woman. Damn that she seemed RIGHT. This didn't make any sense - and suspicious characters didn't just invite people along to witness their sleights of hands.

Hayley nodded. "Something just went wrong, and I'm trying to figure out what happened. Trying to keep my expenses in control. And I worry about the people who come to the Cyberspace. It's good business."

Randall noded. "I understand. You're certainly welcome to watch Mr. McKnight take his meds this afternoon. I appreciate you bringing this to my attention. If he persists, I hope you plan to consult with his doctors?"

"I'll bring it to the McKnights' attention," Hayley said. "They're as worried as I am. And if something's going wrong with Conner's meds..." She left the last bit hanging.

Randall took a seat at her desk, neatly threading her fingers. "I believe that would be the responsibility of your keeper - ah, beau, wouldn't it? He is, as I recall, the man who first diagnosed Conner's unfortunate condition."

"He's not Conner's doctor," Hayley pointed out. "Merely a friend of the family who's familiar with the symptoms."

Randall nodded. "I understand. Well, if there's no further business until then, I have something of a backlog for this morning I need to attend to. I'll be seeing you later, Ms. DeMatteis?"

Hayley nodded, turning to leave. Her hand fell on the doorknob, and she was suddenly jolted with energy.


	8. Chapter 8

Devin checked the time on his Zire and frowned. He swore they'd synchronized schedules before Cass had gone to bed at Kira's place.

He looked around the quad outside Channel 3's downtown offices and frowned again. They had an assignment for Mr. Cornier they needed to get done by Friday. His internship aside, her job hung in the balance.

Devin couldn't imagine what would have distracted the typically career oriented Cassidy so totally. Save, of course, aiding in Ranger duties. That seemed unlikely, as Dr. T hadn't paged him.

He might not be able to fight alongside the Red, Yellow, or Blue Rangers, but Devin hoped Dr. Smith ranked him higher on the food chain than Cassidy.

At least he hoped so. He wasn't too sure, no matter how nice Dr. Smith was.

"Oh, man," he said, looking about again. He wondered if he should call her on her cell, or if he'd get yelled at for that.

He sighed. Better Cass yelling at him than being unhappy. He pulled out his cell and autodialed her. The line rang for nearly a minute before Devin clicked off in frustration. Either she'd disabled call waiting in the last two days or the phone wasn't on.

He wondered what was going on. Wondered if she'd scheduled something without him knowing. Since they were kids, she'd never hidden what she was going to do.

He shook his head, and wished he had Kira's number or a way to get in touch. If he didn't, they would be dead soon. Figuratively speaking.

Trying the next best thing, he punched in Dr. Smith's direct line to Dino Ops. That took only a couple of seconds. White noise filled the earpiece of his cell phone. Somewhere in the distance he could hear a man answering.

"tty here," it repeated.

"Dr. T, like, is something going on? I can't raise Cass on her cell."

"vin, he-" came the voice again. The sound tapered off, and the older man became audible. "Sorry. I'm actually on the ATV, you're being routed through my bracelet. What's up?"

"I can't raise Cass on her cell, is something wrong?" Devin asked. "Why are you on the ATV? Do I need to be somewhere?"

"Something's the matter with Trent," Dr. T said simply. "I'm pursuing. Nothing is the matter that I'm aware of, though nobody's minding the base at the moment. Is there something you'd like me to do? I could swing by her house. I'm out by her housing development."

"Um... well, Cass was at Kira's," Devin said. "And, um, what's wrong with Trent?"

"That's what I'd like to know." Dr. Smith sighed. "I'll fill you guys in when I know more. Do you want me to page Kira on her morpher?"

"If you could, and if it's okay, Dr. T," Devin said. "I'm kinda worried."

"Don't worry, I'll page Kira and make sure Cass gives you a call. Dr. T out."

Devin breathed a sigh of relief, laying back on the concrete outcropping surrounding the fountain. It might have been silly, but he felt immensely better for knowing he had someone like the Black Ranger to turn to.

Devin knew he wasn't a decisive or strong-willed person. How he'd held his own this many years with both Cassidy and his father was beyond him. But this Ranger stuff, the possibility that someone not checking in meant they were being turned into a mutant, or kidnapped by aliens, or emissary to a race of sentient planets... He'd have gone batty without Dr. T there.

He checked his equipment once again and waited for Cass to call him.  
The shrill chime of Kira's dino bracelet jerked both girls upright. Cass didn't remember falling asleep on the bed herself, but she must have. The younger girl stood no chance of dragging her back to bed.

"Kira here," Kira said automatically, her hair a mess. Bed hair, Cass realized somehow.

"This is Dr. T. Is Cassidy there? Devin's a little worried."

Their eyes met. Cass, awkwardly, broke the glance. Kira's gaze returned to the morpher. "Yeah, she's here. I'll get her."

She tapped off the comm line for a few seconds, hitting the call button again and raising her wrist to Cassidy.

"Dr. T?" Cass asked uncertainly. "What's wrong with Devin?"

"Apparently you both had an appointment this morning. He was afraid you'd gotten in Mesogog's crosshairs again." The fuzz around Cass' brain dissolved like a splash of cold water.

She could hear the older Ranger mutter something. "Girls, I'm going to have to let you go. I have a situation on this end. I'll call if stuff gets hairy. Dr. T out."

Cass lookied at Kira, then frantically dug in her bag for her Zire. She punched past the protection and looked at her schedule. "Damn."

Reaching further into the purse, she produced her cell phone. Dead. No battery. Of course not, she'd meant to charge it after Conner's little episode and got sidetracked for the next sixteen hours.

"Argh," she said. Kira slid behind her, softly leaning against Cass' back and holding her reassuringly.

"Kira, I gotta go," she said, jumping up and trying to get everything together.

"You could, um," she stammered, chewing her lip. "You could call him and cancel. I'd really..."

"This isn't a date, this is an assignment," Cass said. "Oh, I will be so dead. Can I use your phone?"

Kira nodded. Clearly Cassidy's choice of words had cut the smaller girl in a way she hadn't intended, and Cass kicked herself for it.

Grabbing Kira's phone, she quickly punched in Devin's cell and fed him a cockamamie line about investigating pre-native american cultures in Reefside. She promised to be there within thirty minutes, which - given trafic this time of day - was being very unrealistic.

"Sorry, Kira," she apologized, trying to struggle into her clothes. She wouldn't look like the usual beautiful Cassidy Cornell, but she'd rather that than lose her job at Channel 3. Besides, Devin worried enough without her.

Kira embraced her again from behind, and Cassidy tried to ignore how warm and inviting the lithe form felt. Just like the bed she hadn't intended to sleep in.

"I, um... last night... you really showed me what friendship was. Nobody's held me. Nobody's told me they care without asking anything of me. I..." Kira stammered.

Cass wanted to kick herself, and quickly finished getting the rest of her clothes back on. "Kira, I'm not going to leave you. We're friends, right? Last night was wonderful, and nothing has to change. IÊ just have an obligation for Mr. Cornier I need to take care of before Friday. I'll see you later today, I promise."

Kira nodded, her deep hazel eyes conveying a wealth of emotion that Cass couldn't even begin to decipher - and didn't know if she wanted to.

Cassidy looked over herself, grabbed her bag, and hurried out the door, fleeing towards Devin and their appointment.


	9. Chapter 9

Reefside had begun its life as part of a vast farming community in northern California. The town had gradually become more and more industrialized over the decades, eventually earning a title as Blue Bay Harbor's sister city. Though agriculture was no longer their main source of revenue, vast farms and ranches dotted the nearby landscape.

It was here, surrounded by wheat up to his shoulders, that Terrance Smith found himself in desperate search of the White Dino Thunder Ranger.

Of course, Trent's ability didn't help, either, though Terrence sometimes wondered if his teammate's powers had expanded to emulating the abilities of the other Rangers.

It would explain his proficiency in hiding from detection so ably. A low rustling two rows away alerted Terrance to something, and he quietly crept towards the next intersection.

"Trent?" he asked quietly, trying to not alarm the unhinged Ranger.

"Get AWAY!" the younger man cried. "You don't understand, it's not safe for any of you! Just like it wasn't safe for him!"

"Trent," Terrance said evenly, "you came to see me. I know you want help; someone to talk to."

"I was out of my mind!" Trent said, his voice coming out of seemingly nowhere. "I ran. It's not safe for you to be near me. Leave me alone." The wheat rustled again.

Terrance hung near the edge of his row, waiting for a familiar footfall. He and Conner had practiced this in Terrance's own fields as a means of incapacitating the boy should he ever use his civilian powers to harm others. The breeze kissed the tactile sensors wiring the helmet to his central nervous system, and Terrance's arm shot out, nabbbing Trent across the midsection. Trent stumbled out of super speed.

Terrance caught the boy and held him tight. "It's okay, Trent. Let me take you home. You look like you haven't eaten in a week." He paused. "And you could use a bath."

"I smell bad. Shouldn't that be a clue?"

An eruption of light split the sky above them, leaving in its place a figure in familiar black and turquoise armor.

"Zeltrax!" Trent cried, jerking out of Terrance's arms and toppling backwards into the crops.

Terrance sighed. "Let me handle this, Trent."

Terrance spun, finding himself face to face with the warrior's fearsome visage. His hand inched towards the Brachiostaff. "It doesn't have to be this way, Eddie."

The cyborg turned lazily from the boy to the Black Ranger. "There is no Eddie here. Destroying the both of you is but a prelude to my ultimate revenge!"

Terrance raised his eyebrows inside his helmet. "Look, you're Edward Payne. You were killed by Mesogog when you were testing a new device..."

Zeltrax's sword coalesced in his hand. "You are a fool to believe your friend could be saved, Smith. There are so many others in need of your attention that you have callously left to hang."

The cyborg chuckled. "Besides, I believe Trent knows quite well why Edward Payne won't be coming back."

Trent screamed.

"Trent?" Terrance asked, half to make sure the other was still there.

There was no answer. Against his every instinct, Terrance turned to look for the White Ranger. In an instant, a flash of light erupted from Zeltrax's visor, leaving him awash in agony. The Black Ranger armor shattered around him.

"Shit!" he muttered defensively, backing away and activating his own civilian power.

"Impressive." Zeltrax said dryly. A hand waved across his visor, and its color changed from black to red. "Scanning."

Terrance blanched and tried to lift Trent's limp form before he was detected. A bolt of energy sent him flying and the field ablaze. Terrance coughed.

Zeltrax laughed. "This is going better than I could have imagined."

He strode towards Terrance purposefully, his blade rhythmically slapping against his right palm. "Now you will pay, Smith. For those wrongs done to me and my other."

"Never!" Terrance cried, regaining his balance and hauling Trent bodily away.

"Trent!" he called into the boy's ear as the two struggled through the crops. "You have to cloak! Zeltrax has to take a little longer searching for us that way!"

"No," the White Ranger whimpered. "It can't be him. It can't be."

"Trent. Cloak! Imitate me! Worry about telling me later!"

"I..." Trent swallowed hard, and dissolved into nothingness like Terrance as he pulled himself back up. The older man made sure they had a firm grip on one another as they continued to move.

"Good boy," Terrance muttered quietly, hoping they'd get back to his Raptor Rider so that they could make a fast escape... then he could learn what was going on. The sooner, the better.

Another invisiportal opened at the far end of their row, depositing Elsa and a squadron of Triptoids and Tyrannodrones.

"YOU are late," Zeltrax cried from the opposite end. Terrance swore under his breath, pulling the two of them as close to the crops as possible and trying not to move.

"Are you roughing up the merchandise, new meat?" Elsa yelled back. "You know Lord Mesogog's instructions. The doctor and the boy are not to be harmed."

"I am merely making them cower," Zeltrax said. "As well they should."

"Idiot! If you harm the boy, Mesogog will have our heads!"

Zeltrax snorted. "I fail to see you providing any assistance, Elsa. Perhaps your ability to anticipate what Mesogog needs has ended. As well as your usefulness."

"Ha! At least I didn't ask to be turned into a armored freak!"

"Yes." Zeltrax crossed his arms. "It seems you had no choice in the matter at all. That is the difference between a peer and a subordinate."

He snapped his fingers, and the footsoldiers stood at attention. "Minions! Circle the parameter and close in. We'll draw the net in on them." He stared Elsa in the eye, daring her to rebuke his command.

Elsa snorted. "There's hope for you yet. Just remember how displeased Lord Mesogog will be if you injure the boy before we can put him in... safekeeping."

"All that matters to me is my revenge. Once I have that, my life is Mesogog's to do with as he wishes."

Elsa rolled her eyes as the creatures fanned out all around her. "Yes, yes, and you shall have it. Smith's capture will ensure that if nothing else."

"Excellent," Zeltrax said.

"Safekeeping?" Trent whimpered quietly.

Terrance patted the other reassuringly. "Won't happen," he murmured. "I've been in tighter jams."

"It occurs to me," Zeltrax asked suddenly. "What kept you? Mesogog led me to believe you were ordinarily quite punctual."

"I was busy securing our other target," Elsa said testily. "The one I didn't have to be gentle on."

"Ah," Zeltrax replied knowingly. "Smith's woman. A wise decision. The Rangers have no idea how compromised their civilian lives are - and are rapidly becoming."

Terrance froze. How had Elsa gotten her hands on Hayley?

Trent struggled against him. "There's going to be a gap between the Tyrannodrone and the triptoid off to Elsa's left," he whispered.

Terrance swallowed, whispering an affirmative. Trent activated his speed, holding onto Terrance firmly. The two bolted for it, unable to avoid rustling the crops arround them.  
Conner filtered out of PolSci with the rest of the class. His concentration had been spotty for the entire quiz, and he knew he'd be lucky if he made it out alive with a C-average.

Today had been rough, and not only because of the day before. His body felt clunky and cumbersome. His fingers were unresponsive some of the time.

Inwardly, he cursed Mesogog once more. That armored freak was going to pay for turning Conner into a monster.

A hand fell on his shoulder, and Conner's temper surged. He spun around, relaxing visibly when he realized the hand's owner was Marianne, one of the girls from Eric's old dojo.

"Marianne, what's up?" he asked, calming his racy heart and ignoring her smell.

Her nose wrinkled and her brow tightened. "Conner, are you doing all right? You've been spacing out all day, and I thought you were going to try and eat Becky Holstram's science project last week."

"I'm just distracted," he said. "And... no, I wasn't."

The edges of her mouth creased. "You were smelling it, anyway."

Conner's fingers twitched. He could feel another episode in the near future, and he needed to be clear of the others when it happened. A bathroom stall, a padded cell, it didn't matter. There was no time -

" - guess I just wanted to know you were hanging in there," she finished (had she even started?). "You're all Eric talks about when we're dating."

The impending transformation sputtered for a second as Conner realized his brother had a girlfriend. One presumably even Mom and Dad weren't aware of.

"Oh," he managed. "Thanks. See you!"

He tore off down the hall as his fingers slowly bonded together, bone and sinew stretching and contorting as a dinosaur hand began to materialize for the first time. He jammed his hand into his pocket and barreled into the janitor's closet.

He breathed in relief as the door slammed and locked behind him. "Shit," he muttered, before collapsing into a shelf full of stuff he didn't care about but the janitor maybe did.  
"Earth to Cass," Devin said. Cassidy looked up in confusion, and Devin gestured to the station editing equipment. "We've got to get this stuff ready for presentation on Friday. I thought a work print might help us figure out what coverage we still need."

Cassidy nodded, still distracted. "Right."

Devin wrinkled his nose. "Cass, are you okay? You and Kira didn't get attacked, did you?"

Cassidy shook her head. "No, it's not that. I just never..."

She just never what? Realized how alone Kira must have been all these months? How torn Kira's heart would be after Trent and Conner violated her trust and her patience time and again? How much Kira smelled like honeysuckle?

Devin sighed. "Cass, did you meet someone?"

"What?" her head snapped up. "Don't be silly. I haven't been anywhere since we stopped at the Fords last night. I don't know, maybe I've been humbled. They had it so rough before we joined the team."

Devin nodded understandingly. "Yeah. I can't believe we were so blind to who they were, Cass."

She slumped forward against the console, her mind reeling. All she wanted was to go back to bed. Everything made so much more sense in those fleeting moments of half consciousness before and after sleep.

"Dev?" she asked suddenly. "Why are we even doing this? Cornier doesn't need us. We're part of the world's preeminant team of heroes, and we're punching in at a place built on exploiting people like that."

"Um, Dr. T said we should try to have normal lives."

"Normal life?" Cass asked suddenly. "What's a normal life? We don't have normal lives anymore!"

Devin swallowed. "Cass, this has been your dream since you were five years old. This was - was our dream. Do you want to throw that away?"

She could hear the unspoken addendum to that question. Could she throw it away.

"I don't know," she admitted. "I guess... now I'm hoping we can make things better here."

"Edward Cornier's a powerful man. If we burn him, we're throwing away our careers. We'd be lucky to work for some supermarket tabloid in Circle Pines. But, but if this is what you want..." his smiled broadened. "I'm in all the way."

"Thanks, Dev," she whipered.

"Oh!" he said suddenly, fishing out his cell phone and checking for a signal inside the cavernous sub-basement. "Dr. T was chasing after Trent, I should see how he's doing."

Cass nodded. Devin brought the phone to his ear after punching in the autodial for Dr. Smitty. The phone rang.

Over a minute passed before the automated messenger in Dino Ops began to play. Frowning, Devin tried again. After yielding the same response four times, he was outright panicked.

"Cass, we've got to get to Ops!" he cried.

"What?" she asked, bolting upright.

Devin grabbed his coat and bolted out the door without another word. Cass tore out after him.  
Time had begun to lose all meaning. The pain was his only companion. The only presence he knew as intimately as he knew himself. Somehow, though, its presence only made him feel more alone. More tainted.

Conner stank of industrial solvents and various chemicals he couldn't have identified even with all of Dr. Smitty's lab at his disposal.

On his mishappen arm, something began to beep. He swatted it like a fly.

Something clicked and a faint voice emerged from under his claw. "Conner!"

Conner. Yes, he supposed, that was his name. Or at least it was a word he felt reasonably sure he knew. He gurgled in reply.

"Conner?" Devin's voice came from somewhere. "You there, man? Oh, don't tell me we're missing three people now!"

"Aaaaaahhhh... herrrrre..." Conner drawled. The air was too cold in here. Too cold, and the humidity was too low. He could barely breathe, and his extremities kept fluctuating between total numbness and burning like fire.

"Shit!" Devin barked. "Conner, where are you?"

He hissed. Words couldn't form. His tongue felt thick and useless. He could just barely muster the comprehension to understand what Devin was saying.

He hissed again, hoping it was an encouraging sound.

"Shit! Where's Dr. T's tracker, Cass?"

Those three syllables clicked like a tumbler in his brain. Conner could feel the fiery agony as his prominent brow began to recede back into a human skull, and five fingers unknit from three. "Doc... Doctor Smitty?"

"Conner? Where are you?"

"Janitor's closet... the pain, the pain..."

"Oh shit. Conner, stay there. I'm going to get Ethan, he'll -"

"NO!" Conner said, feeling his perception of the visual spectrum shift and fighting back a wave of nausea. "What happened to Dr. Smitty?"

"We don't know," Devin said, sounding worried. "I, like, can't reach him and you're in no state to do anything..."

"Yes," Conner grunted, "I am. Call Ethan and have the both of you meet me at his last location. While you're at it, call Hayley. She was supposed to supervise me receiving my medications in an hour. She's more use to you guys there."

"Right," Devin said, sounding a little calmer. "I'll call her."

Behind Devin, he could hear a voice. "Devin, what does this mean, 'tracker not found'?"

The bracelet clicked off and Conner struggled to stand.


End file.
